Opinion

Police should have acted fast in Jaffna - EDITORIAL

24 May 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ne of the charges levelled against the former government was the politicisation of the police department. This social cancer was so malignant that critics described police stations as virtual branches of the then ruling party. Most law abiding or self-respecting citizens were unwilling or afraid to go to a police station when they had a problem.
So the image of the police as a friend of the people had crumbled.
With the installation of the Yahapalanaya administration led by President Mahithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe the people believed one of their first tasks would be to restore the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and the independence of the police.

Treating a malignant cancer is not easy. President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had to take effective steps to restore the Rule of Law.
The recent events in Jaffna and the island of Kayts have raised more questions about the independence, effectiveness or inaction of the police. The disturbing

events began with the brutal gang rape and murder of an 18-year-old Jaffna schoolgirl allegedly by nine Tamil men at Pungudutivu in Kayts. The gruesome gang rape took place on May 13 but there was a delay in police action. The girl’s parents say that when they complained to the police they were told that the teenage girl might have runway. When the suspects were tracked down and produced in the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court last Wednesday the Northern capital saw some of the worst scenes since the end of the war in May 2009. A mob of about 1000 held a demonstration and then stormed the Magistrate’s Court.

They attacked the court premises and caused heavy damaged to State property. In the aftermath of this, senior Jaffna police officers were immediately transferred while Criminal Investigations Department detectives were sent there on Saturday night to probe whether the police had allowed any anti-national groups to indulge in violence with political agendas. The Colombo University’s Mr. V.T. Thamilmaran who specializes in law and human rights had reportedly gone to his home town of Pungudutivu last Monday saying he wanted to help resolve the growing crisis. Mr. Thamilmaran who is reportedly being considered by the Tamil National Alliance for nomination to contest the upcoming Parliamentary elections said the main suspect, ‘Swiss Kumar’ and his family were taken to the Jaffna Police Station by some officers. He said he then learnt that the main suspect had left the police station and had been arrested by the Wellawatte Police.

TNA parliamentarian and senior lawyer M. A. Sumanthiran, underlining the complexity of the crisis said an armed political gang had been in control of Kayts till 2013. He was apparently referring to the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) whose leader Douglas Devananda was a minister in the former Rajapaksa regime.
Some 130 people were arrested and remanded after the attack on the Jaffna court premises. The CID detectives are now looking into the background of these suspects to ascertain whether they had any antinational political agendas to destabilize the Government. In all these incidents the police should have acted fast to prevent a deterioration of the law and order situation.

The hopeful note is that the Constitutional Council, one of the main features of the landmark 19th Amendment to the Constitution, is likely to be set up soon. The 13-member CC will appoint an independent National Police Commission among others. We hope this will be the first major step towards the restoration of an independent police service which will act effectively, without fear or favour and restore the image of the police not only as the long arm of the law but also as a friend and servant of
the people.

Opinion

Police should have acted fast in Jaffna - EDITORIAL

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